“Of course I’m disappointed not to win it, but at the same time I’m very pleased with the level of tennis that I managed to find in the later stages of this tournament…I actually now started to feel like I actually want to feel on clay.”Īfterward, Djokovic was asked about the rise of the Next Gen, which prompted him to put in a good word for his gen, the Big 3 gen. “Overall almost three hours of high-quality tennis,” said Djokovic, who has one more warm-up event to play, in Belgrade. At the same time, it’s the right moment to win an important title.” “Very happy,” said Nadal, who hinted that he would fine-tune his down-the-line forehand in practice over the next two weeks. And each seemed pleased with his ramp-up to Roland Garros. Each recorded a good win over a Next Gen contender this week-for Nadal, it was Alexander Zverev for Djokovic, it was Stefanos Tsitsipas. This was his 10th title in Rome, and it leaves him at 20-7 against Djokovic on clay as they prepare for another, more important, potential showdown in Paris. Nadal had taken some of Djokovic’s best tennis in the second set, and found an unplayable level of his own in the third. Just tough, you know, to play him from that side. Next game I played against the wind with used balls. “Didn’t capitalize on that break point in 2-All. It was a bit unfortunate,” Djokovic said. “Unfortunately decisive moments in the first and third set, you know, just went his way. The match went three sets and lasted nearly three hours, but it was won and lost in those two games. Then he crossed to the other side and, with the wind at his back, hit two forehand winners that landed on the sidelines, and a blazing backhand pass to break for 4-2. But this time, after a Djokovic forehand miss and a backhand winner of his own, Rafa survived. In the third set, serving into the wind again, Nadal faced break points at 2-2. In the second set, Nadal was unable to hold onto his serve on that side at 1-2 he was broken, and soon trailed 4-1. It was cascading from one end of the court to the other, which made holding serve on one side much more than difficult-and ultimately crucial. You might not have known it from the high level of play, but this final also had something else that proved to be a major factor: wind. By now, there’s no need for either of them to guess about their tactics, or the other guy’s capabilities.

Both men were proactive, no shots were wasted, and rallies didn’t last any longer than was necessary for one of them to find a way to attack and win it. Despite its length, this match-up of 30-somethings felt more condensed and streamlined than their clay-court epics of old. These two have met 10 times in Rome, more than at any other event.

Atp rome 2021 results today